Firebuy is a Non Departmental Public Body, set up as from 1 April 2006, to act as the professional procurement body and the contracting authority for the UK Fire Service. The Chief Executive will report to the Firebuy Board and advise it on all matters relating to major contracts for Fire & Rescue Authorities. The Chief Executive and the Board will also take the lead in contract management and service level monitoring.

The people who have been appointed to the Firebuy Board are:-

Chair
Liz Barron
Liz served from 1985 to 2005 on Hampshire County Council where she represented the Romsey Constituency. She served on Hampshire Fire Authority for 20 years and she chaired the Fire Authority from 1993 - 1999. Liz also served on and chaired the LGA Fire Forum and the NJC Employers and was a non executive director at the Fire Service College.

Directors

Elizabeth Bennett
She is the former Assistant Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer at Nottinghamshire County Council having retired in January 2008. She is an accredited Peer of the Improvement and Development Agency.

George Herbert
Former Chief Fire Officer of Durham and Darlington Combined Fire and Rescue Authority. He retired after 31 years in the Fire and Rescue Service.

Martin Kitchen
He is the former Surrey Chief Fire Officer retiring in 2002 after 33 years in the Fire and Rescue Service. He is currently the Chairman of the East Surrey Primary Care Trust.

Robert Light
Mr Light is the Managing Director of RC & SJ Light – a family farming and equestrian business. He is Councillor and Group Leader of Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council and has stood a parliamentary candidate in the last three general election campaigns on behalf of the Conservative Party. He is also a member and Vice Chair of West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority and a Member and Chair of Yorkshire & Humberside Fire Authority Regional Management Board.

David Rowe
Mr Rowe is the former Deputy Leader of Suffolk County Council. He stood as a parliamentary candidate in the 2005 General Election for the Labour Party. He is also a former Justice of the Peace and former member of Suffolk Police Authority. He works as an Environmental Protection officer at Ipswich Borough Council. He holds a ministerial appointment as Chair of Suffolk Probation Board. He is also a Trustee of the Felixstowe Youth Development Group.

Karen Dodds
Karen is a Director of Public Risk Management Ltd, providing risk management consultancy in the public sector.  Before joining PRM Karen spent nine years at Aon, the world’s leading risk and insurance provider.  She led the formation of a dedicated centre of excellence for Aon’s public sector business in the southern region.  As a Director of this team she helped to drive Aon’s national public sector policy to provide a high quality client service.  Latterly she was a Director in Aon’s consulting division leading the Enterprise Risk Management Team for the public sector.

Ex-officio appointments

Ex-officio appointments are made to an organisation rather than to an individual and it is for the organisation to nominate their own representative and they are free to change their nominated person at any time. See LFEPA below for its latest nomination.

CFO Paul M Fuller
The Chief Fire Officers Association has nominated Paul Fuller, the Chief Fire Officer of Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service. He is also the Chairman of the CFOA National Procurement Board.

Councillor Colin Tandy
The London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) has recently nominated Councillor Colin Tandy as its representative.  He is a Deputy Chair of the Authority with responsibility for health and safety and Firebuy matters. LFEPA will hold an ex-officio appointment for three years in recognition of the key role it has played in supporting the formation of Firebuy. Councillor Tandy is LFEPA’s representative from the London Borough of Bexley, where he has been a councillor since 1974. He represents Bexley Council on the Southern Regional Flood Defence Committee and the Thames Regional Flood Defence Committee. He was the Mayor of Bexley for the Municipal year of 1991/2.

Observers
In addition two observers will attend board meetings a representative of the Communities & Local Government (CLG) and Terry Brewer the Chief Executive of Firebuy.